politics

Whether you voted for Donald Trump or not, he’s now the president of all… blah blah you know the rest. The day after the inauguration, millions of women and a peppering of men took to the streets in a global display for women’s rights and presidential discontent. The very same day, Donald Trump made a widely criticized, self aggrandizing freestyle speech straight off the dome on hallowed grounds at CIA headquarters, disputing photographic evidence of the inaugural crowd size. That alone was all the news that’s fit to print… until Press Secretary Sean Spicer, in his maiden voyage, took the lectern in the White House press briefing room.

Flanked by monitors displaying photos of Trumps inauguration viewed from the Capitol building, Spicer came in hot and forcefully accused the media of “false reporting” in an effort to “lessen the enthusiasm for the inauguration” by using photos that were “intentionally framed in a way to minimize the enormous support that had gathered” (for the historically least popular incoming president).

He didn’t stop there. Armed with untrue statistics, Spicer declared, “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.” Spicer then marched out of the room and didn’t take any questions.

OK… well let’s fact check that statement. All you need to do is look at a photograph. By using my eyes, I can see that Trump’s inauguration attendance was sparse compared to presidents’ past. Saying the word “period” after a sentence, doesn’t qualify the statement as factual.

The media quickly struck back with puzzled pundits questioning the motive of Trump sending Spicer out to the press in such a bizarre childlike manner. Political junkies like myself were anxiously awaiting the administration’s narrative come Sunday morning as they made the rounds on the network TV circuit. The pushback was stunning.

In a remarkable exchange between NBC’s Chuck Todd and Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway on “Meet the Press,” Todd pressed Conway on why the president would send out Spicer for the first time ever “to utter a provable falsehood.” Conway hubristically replied, “If we’re going to keep referring to our Press Secretary in those types of terms, I think that we’re going to have to rethink our relationship here. I want to have a great open relationship with our press.”

Like an abusive partner that doesn’t get her way and wields too much power in an unhealthy relationship, Conway subtly threatened the press – maybe we should just break up then. This marks the beginning of the end of the fourth estate’s role in the Trump administration.

Conway alarmingly added, “Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. You’re saying it’s a falsehood… Sean Spicer gave alternative facts to that.” Alternative facts, as Chuck Todd pointed out, are falsehoods. There are no such things as alternative facts. Shortly after the interview, Merriam Webster tweeted the definition of the word fact as “a piece of information presented as having objective reality,” adding, “in contemporary use, fact is generally understood to refer to something with actual existence.” You know we’re in trouble when the dictionary has to take to Twitter.

It’s clear that Trump and his strategists are preparing the country for a departure from factual reporting which leads to the absence of accountability. The fact that they sent Spicer out to argue something that is so easily disproved, means they are laying the groundwork for a public soaked in disinformation. People will be forced to choose between their instinctual idea of truth or believing what the administration tells them. The more you muddy the water, the less you see through it all.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia in 1952 defined disinformation as “the dissemination of false information with the intention to deceive public opinion.” The Russians have used it effectively since the 1920’s to subdue their own people and disrupt the consciousness of others. It is hard to draw conclusions, never mind solve problems, when people are working with different sets of “facts.” This tactic results in a counterproductive discourse that bears no traction in either direction, while the powers that be are able to manipulate the reality in whichever way they please. This is what happens when you allow “alternative facts.” We’d be blind not to acknowledge the similarities of Kremlin tradecraft and the current administration’s path toward social confusion.

It was easy to feel a difference on the first day of Trump’s presidency. Presidential he was not. He was still talking about the election, himself, how many Time magazine covers he’s been on, and how he’s “like a smart person.” He immediately tried to deny the gloomy feel of his rained-on speech, the small turnout and overall ominous vibe of the day he took the oath. It felt different. His first order of business with the media was to scold them for reporting the truth, and then threaten to break up with them if they didn’t fall in line.

It’s definitely a different America under Trump. An America where the president can force government agencies to shut down their Twitter accounts when they tweet information that’s unfavorable to the administration. An America where we are told to doubt our own eyes and believe a short-tempered statement telling us otherwise. An America where facts have alternative facts, and a free press that is not so free. An America where we write essays called “Are Facts Really Real?”

Well we have our two nominees for president. I think there has never been an election that had two candidates that reflect the times better than Clinton and Trump. We have an establishment candidate on the democratic side who led us through a “coronation” of sorts. And we have a reality star, drawing endless parallels to “Idiocracy”, that reflects the frustration of the populist wave that has been sweeping our country for the past 8 years. Since 2008, the veil of politicians and their cozy relations to the people that blockade our progression has been lifted. After no one was taken to task over derailing our economy, the rich got richer and the very same people who got us into a “lost decade” were tasked to pull us out of it. Politicians on both sides are guilty of spurring poor legislation, pay-day loan schemes, and an unfaltering level of student debt. Everyone from Paul Ryan to Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been exposed for who they are. An awakening is happening: where talking points, straw man arguments, partisan strategies, wedge issue placement, and all around bullshit have become unacceptable.

As an example of impeccable timing, Donald Trump runs for president as the whole country screams, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” At first, his remarks about Mexicans and the wall they’ll build for us stood as amusement. A feeling that reality television invaded our political dialogue for a quick visit became evident. Then the magic happened. We watched Trump, in what I consider the most entertaining election campaign of all time, eviscerate his competition with schoolyard quips, and name calling. At first, this strategy seemed unsustainable. But with huge help from the media blindly dispensing free air time that translated to positive coverage, Trump was able to be the last scam standing.

For the democrats, we watched a historical effort from Senator Bernie Sanders with his brand of left-leaning populism. As his support grew, income inequality and long held myths of capitalism were brought to the attention of the masses. All of a sudden, with an entire generation of young disappointed Americans behind him, Sanders’ socialist ideas were given a seat at the grown up table at Christmas. This campaign pulled Hillary to the left and made people question the long game of this widening class divide. Even the side that was running a successful establishment candidate was showing cracks, with unemployed debt-ridden college kids ready to burst through. But, as expected, Hillary prevailed and made history as the first female major party candidate for president.

So now we’re here…

Even before the party conventions have gathered, we’ve been offered a sneak peek into the general election. It’s obvious that Clinton’s camp is a well oiled political machine with hundreds under her employ. It’s also obvious that Trump has like five guys, none of which actually advise him. So we have one candidate with well staged speeches versus a guy who tweets impulsively. The fact that Twitter has turned into Trumps personal Associated Press wire has to mean the days are numbered for that social medium. But beyond the easy to spot stark differences between these candidates, I’ve been noticing a dark force foreshadowing violent times ahead.

Some weeks back, a Trump rally was met by protesters in what seems to be the new norm. The crowd outside quickly got out of control and many fights broke out. In a sad sight, one female Trump supporter was cornered. Protesters started throwing eggs that cracked upon impact and slowly gave way to gravity down her face. She tried to be defiant, smiling through it. Then more eggs. Then food that doesn’t crack and ooze. Then no more smiling. Fear. She was being pelted with objects as news cameras surrounded her… not to protect her, but to capture the “news.” My heart sunk watching this display. No one was right. This was not political discourse. What have we done?

Trump has made a habit of throwing rallies in locations that have a high minority population, Hispanic and the like, baiting a violent outcome. He’s successful almost everywhere he goes.

He is touching nerves that connect to race, immigration, and social responsibility. He’s garnered support from racists with xenophobia while pretending he is not using dog whistles to point out the “thugs” that disrupt his rallies. I think this is a dangerous experiment, and none of us are wearing protective gear. To see Americans fighting each other in violent scenes culminating all the bad parts of humans is truly saddening.

After the largest mass shooting on American soil, Trump congratulated himself on his view of Muslims and insinuated that our president was complicit in such terrorist attacks. This is different. This election is between a status quo establishment hawk and a madman that is still shocked he made it this far. It’s hard to imagine what a debate between these two candidates would look like.

As we look ahead to election day, I think we have to make a choice on how we, as the people, behave during this election. We can be civil or we can be animals. We can take our choices for what they are or become part of the problem in the choices we have. We can fall victim to “false facts” and galvanize this divide, or we can keep a strong contact with reality.

My hope is peace. My hope is that we don’t allow ourselves to be a part of the demagoguery that is ever present in Trump’s news cycle. My hope is that we don’t engage people from our home towns in bitter Facebook posts. Don’t let the system whose been playing us this whole time play us again. Let’s all be the adults in the room and navigate this shit-show with composure and intelligent thought. No memes. No fake graphs with fake statistics. No noise. Just truth. If that’s what we’re left to work with, I have hope for all of us. That way, in four years, we can elect a true revolutionary that will change the system the way we all want it to be changed.